“The Life & Times of Omar ibn Sayyid” is a gripping American saga that explores the life of an extraordinary Fulani (Peul) Arabic scholar, teacher and religious leader from the Fulani State of Futa Torro, who was one of the last Africans sold into slavery in the United States during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. This is the life journey of a man from the land of Futa Torro (West Africa), to Mecca, to Charlestown SC, to Fayetteville NC to Wilmington NC.

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Omar ibn Sayyid endured 57 years of slavery in South Carolina and North Carolina. He died at94 years of age during the year prior to the end of the U.S. Civil War.

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Omar ibn Sayyid would astound America with his writings from the Qur’an from memory, as well as his own handwritten autobiography written in the Arabic language as well as other literary samples that are available today. Omar ibn Sayyid was one of the few documented literary personages from W. Africa that endured slavery in the United States.

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“The Life & Times of Omar ibn Sayyid” is professionally reenacted by Ahmad Kenya from Images of the Motherland-Interactive Theatre. “The Life & Times of Omar ibn Sayyid” is a 1 hour/1 Act performance with no intermission.

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This production is replete with authentic costuming, artifacts, and props. *Special feature for educational institutions includes interactive workshop and Q&A.

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"In the year 1807, the slave ship registered in Baltimore, MD, called "Heart of Oak", under the command of Captain Whitney, picked up a total of 439 captive African souls from the coast of West Africa. England and the United States had already entered into the 1807 Slave Trade Act, that allowed both governments Navies to seize any and all slave ships on the high seas, return the African captives to Africa, destroy the slave ship, and execute the ships Captain and crew by hanging.

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On the date, December 27, 1807, after a Trans-Atlantic voyage of 45 days to Charlestown, South Carolina, only 330 of those captive African souls aboard the slave ship "Heart of Oak" survived. This was 4 days before the United States Navy would begin enforcing the 1807 Slave Trade Act. A man named Omar ibn Sayyid was among those survivors. He was truly "among the last group of Africans brought into America from the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade."

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Through the barriers of time and space, a lone voice called from the Fulani tribal past, to be heard. He would prove to be a profound human being, whose story demanded to be told.

He was a multilingual early 18th Century African Muslim scholar, mathematical genius, and Hajji, who was abducted from the land of Futa Torro in West Africa.

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He would survive the notorious Middle Passage of the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade, and endure through slavery in South and North Carolina until his death at 94 years of age during the year prior to the end of the Civil War.

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He would astound America with his writings from the Quran from memory, as well as his own handwritten autobiography written in the Arabic language.

His name was Omar ibn Sayyid..and he was one of the last Africans brought into America from the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade."

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